The Essence of Christianity: Living in Truth and through Grace.

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Eilert Herms
• Subject Area: Protestant Theology
• Term: from 2015 to 2017
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 284111768

Eilert Herms describes the nature of Christianity, and in particular the Christian life, which he sees as being an exemplaric case of living as a community in light of a practical certainty about God, the world and life. This certainty goes back to revelatory events of disclosure, whose affirmation as reliable directs daily life which itself becomes an expression of this certainty. What is specific to Christian certainty is this: our living present is the realization of the creator¿s desire for fellowship and reconciliation in his omnipresence (Acts 17,28). It becomes complete through his autonomous self-disclosure. As a consequence, human certainty of world, origin and self is subject to continuous development. The author depicts the nature of Christian theology as being the theory of the Christian life, he traces the origin of Christian certainty back to primordial instances of disclosure (¿revelations¿), and explicates the subject matter of faith¿s confession in words as well as the whole of its confession in deeds.

• DFG Programme: Publication Grants